US may reimpose sanctions on Iran: Official

Washington, Jan 12: The US is planning to reimpose sanctions on Iran, an official said ahead of President Donald Trump’s decision on sanctions relief on Tehran under the 2015 nuclear deal.

“I am expecting new sanctions on Iran. We continue to look at them. We’ve rolled them out,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters on Thursday at a White House briefing.

Mnuchin’s remarks came as the world was waiting for Trump to decide if he would reimpose sanctions on Iran, a move that might endanger the landmark Iran nuclear deal.

Trump’s decision was expected to be made at a Thursday meeting, Xinhua quoted US State Department spokesperson Stephen Goldstein as saying.

“I’m not sure when the announcement will be, whether it will be tonight, or whether it will be tomorrow. But we do expect a decision to be made later today,” Goldstein told reporters.

In a telephone conversation with Trump on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated “the determination of France to support the strict implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement and the importance of it being respected by all signatories,” said the Elysee Palace.

In July 2015, after a decade of strenuous negotiations, Iran and six major countries — China, Russia, Britain, France, the US and Germany, struck a final agreement on Iran’s controversial nuclear program, in which the West promised to relieve sanctions on Tehran in exchange for a halt in Iran’s efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

However, as one of the most significant diplomatic legacies of Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, the hard-won nuclear deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been running the gauntlet of Trump on his campaign trail and since he became president.

In October, Trump announced that he had decided to decertify Iran’s compliance with the pact.

His move triggered a 60-day window for Congress to decide whether to reimpose sanctions on Iran. Reimposing sanctions would mean violating the Iran nuclear deal on the US side.

The Congress did not come up with any resolution, thus passing the ball back to Trump, who should decide on Friday if he would like to waive energy sanctions on Iran.

Despite the Iran nuclear deal, the US has kept on slapping separate sanctions on Iran, accusing the country of having a ballistic missiles program as well as human rights abuses.

Afghan government’s peace offer to Taliban

US is concerned over the increasing number of high-profile attacks in Kabul orchestrated by Taliban that is aimed at undermining the Afghan government and international resolve to bring peace to war-torn Afghanistan after 16 years of war as Jakarta is preparing to host a trilateral conference where religious scholars from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indonesia would seek to establish peace and security, and the end of terrorism.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has assured unconditional talks to the Taliban and offered to recognize the group as a political party. The president also offered to provide passports to Taliban members and their families, along with an office in Kabul, but the Afghan Taliban remains skeptical about the Indonesia conference.

Kabul is our main effort. To harden Kabul, to protect the people of Kabul and the international community that are here,” US General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan stated.

To defeat ISIS and Taliban, Washington has shifted resources from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan by adopting the regional approach, Considering the complexities of political realities in Afghanistan, US is working to achieve a reconciliation, a political reconciliation, not a military victory.

As regards with strategic framework of U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s South Asia strategy unveiled in August 2017, it was hoped that Ghani would embark on a path toward more inclusive politics by shaping a broad-based consensus to prepare the grounds for the success of the new U.S. strategy.

General John Nicholson, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan said the United States held a series of private talks with Pakistani officials about the elimination of insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan.

US asserted that the recent pressure applied to Pakistan has not resulted in the reduction of violence in Afghanistan and reiterated that Washington will take steps to cut the aid coming from Pakistan to the Taliban and other groups.

Meanwhile, Head of Hizb-e-Islami Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has called on the Taliban to accept government’s peace offer.Hekmatyar said he has sent a peace outline to government and to the Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada and asked him to use the opportunity and join the peace process.

According to Hekmatyar, war is of no benefit to anyone and only the Afghan people are victims of the ongoing conflict. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed NATO’s support of an Afghan-led peace deal. “I commend President Ghani for his courageous leadership. His offer to the Taliban is the clearest invitation to peace yet. So I call on the Taliban to come to the negotiating table. There is an opportunity now to end the conflict”, he added.

China and the European Union believe the Taliban should accept Ghani’s offer to recognize the movement as a legitimate political group.

Republicans warn Trump over Mueller’s Russia inquiry

The warnings came after Trump on Sunday morning criticised Mueller on Twitter, one day after his lawyer John Dowd issued a statement saying he prays for the Justice Department to end the special counsel’s investigation.

Washington, March 19: Key Republicans have warned President Donald Trump not to interfere with special counsel Robert Mueller and his team’s ongoing probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, the media reported.

The warnings came after Trump on Sunday morning criticised Mueller on Twitter, one day after his lawyer John Dowd issued a statement saying he prays for the Justice Department to end the special counsel’s investigation.

In his tweets, Trump reiterated that there had been “no collusion” between his team and Russia and called the probe a “witch hunt”.

He added that it was dominated by “hardened Democrats”.

Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake on Sunday told CNN that he expected his colleagues in Congress to push back on the President’s comments on Mueller and any potential move to force the end of the probe.

“I mean, talking to my colleagues all along it was, you know, once he goes after Mueller, then we’ll take action,” Flake said.

He called Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe late Friday, who was ousted a little over 24 hours before he was to retire, as a “horrible day for democracy”.

South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that he continues to believe that any attempt to fire Mueller would be catastrophic for Trump.

“If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency,” Graham told CNN.

Graham also said the Senate Judiciary Committee should conduct a public hearing on the firing of McCabe for the sake of transparency.

Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio told NBC News: “I remain confident that the special counsel is going to conduct a probe that is fair and thorough and is going to arrive at the truth…”

Meanwhile, Democrat leaders also voiced their disapproval of Trump’s tweet.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and California Democratic Representative Adam Schiff both called on their Republican colleagues to temper the President.

Also on Sunday, White House lawyer Ty Cobb said in a statement: “In response to media speculation… The White House yet again confirms that the President is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel,” the BBC reported.

Wang Yi is China’s key negotiator on border talks with India

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will now be its key negotiator with India on the vexed border issue after Beijing promoted him to the post of State Councillor, the country’s top diplomat, it was announced on Monday.

Beijing, March 19: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will now be its key negotiator with India on the vexed border issue after Beijing promoted him to the post of State Councillor, the country’s top diplomat, it was announced on Monday.

Wang succeeds Yang Jiechi, China’s senior-most diplomat, who until now was the country’s Special Representative on border talks with India.

He will also remain the Foreign Minister. The decision was taken at the ongoing annual session of China’s parliament.

Wang will talk to India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval who is its Special Representative on boundary talks.

China and India by far have held 20 rounds of talks on their 3,448-km disputed border. The countries fought a war in 1962 and have seen their armies cross into each other’s territories due to the different perceptions of the boundary.

Wang repeatedly slammed India during the 73-day military stand-off at Doklam in the eastern sector of their border last year. The crisis was resolved in August.

Wang, however, struck a positive tone about Sino-India ties while addressing the media on the sidelines of China’s annual parliament session.

Wang said if China and India were united then one plus will be equivalent to 11, a remark welcomed by India and answered in the similar tone.